Ear Cracking And Jaw Popping (Page 1)

Hi I have the same thing it is called tmj you must grind your teeth in your sleep what happens is all the cartlidge wears away in your jaw it hurts the more you are aware of it and stop doing it the better it gets

But it doesnt hurt my jaw, its painless, the only symptom is that annoying popping/cracking. Plus I don't grind my teeth.

I had the same thing happen for me when I was on active duty over in Iraq. The clicking was driving me nuts and making it hard to sleep. The doc asked if I was a teeth grinder and I said no. He said there is a muscle that controls the eustation tube (the little tube in the inner ear that balances out the pressure when you go up in a plane or scuba diving), and that muscle was twitching, maybe from pressure on a nerve from swelling. He gave me an injection and that calmed it down for a little while.

I mentioned it when I was home on leave, and my mom started looking into it. About two weeks after I was back in Iraq, I got a package from her with a SleepGuard headband in it. It measures how much you clench your teeth in your sleep, and it turned out that although I was not grinding, I was one hell of a clencher. So I started using it in biofeedback mode at night to train myself out of my clenching. It was working great for about a month, and then when I went to change the batteries, I accidentally took out the wrong screws and I couldn’t get the thing back together. I e-mailed the company and they were great about it. I arranged a time when I could call and the guy who designed it guided me through putting it back together on the phone. I used it for about six months and never had the clicking problem, so I stopped using it. A couple of times since then the clicking problem has come back and I use the SleepGuard headband and the problem goes away in a couple of days.

I was visiting my mom last week and she told me this forum was one of the places she looked when she was looking for something that would help me. She asked me to post here in the hope that my experiences will help someone. I have a great mom.

Samara....I have the same exact thing....

It's painless but so annoying now. Someone please answer the question now.

Agreed. I've had ear cracking and jaw popping for about 8 months and it shows no signs of going away quietly. My right ear cracks randomly and i'm not even moving my jaw; when I actually move my jaw, then I occasionally experience popping.

Will someone please respond to this thread? :?

Hi, I ain't no doctor but it is to do with your sinuses and a difference in pressure between your inner and outer ear I think.

I used to get blocked ears very easily because of this but now I sometimes have bad sinuses in my nose (when it feels blocked but nothing is there...) and when you open your mouth you here a popping/cracking noise that sounds like two bones hitting each other. Sometimes it feels like your ears are blocked when they are in fact not.

Basically when you move your jaw it can alter the pressure in your inner ear and that is what causes the sound.

I used to have the problem solved by having a basic sinus nasal spray that is often used to treat symptoms of hay fever or allergies etc This should at least help the problem for you.

My jaw popping thing only developed recently (it used to just crack very loudly once in a while and then disappear for ages).. i stopped taking the nasal spray for a while because things got better. But the one I've just been prescribed isn't working as well as a different one i had before...

My doctor was also lousy and constantly said i must be allergic to something. But that is rubbish because I never get a runny nose or sneeze or am allergic to anything!

This sounds like a case of tmj---Very often it doesnt hurt but you can have poping and ear complications. Im moving this to the tmj forum so that you can get the help that you need. If you need anything feel free to contact me. Im the mod over there and will help you find any help that you may need. any questions just ask.

Hi i have the same problem too i dont know what to do, i went for an MRI and it does not show any problem or any tmj it looks like everything is right but i have the same problem in my right ear, also everytime i shake my head i hear something loose on my righ side of my head near the ear.

unfortunately when we have mri s or x rays--very often things look like they are ok. My xrays still show up clear. there are things that a dr.has to be really looking for in order to see it. thats what it was in my case.

Urbunbury---what symptoms do you have other than the symptoms that you listed--Please start your own thread and fill us in--we are happy to have you here with us.

The ears get effected by the tmj. The jaw joint effects the ears and the eustacian tubes. The eustacian tube has a muscle on it that spasms, and makes noise. The jaw muscles have a nerve that controls the eustacian tubes. My ears crackle, pop, buzz, and feel full. The feeling full is a referred type of thing. Its enough to drive a person crazy. CRAZY!!! dyan is right, alot of times an mri doesnt show everything. me too ?an mri showed up NOTHING and the xrays.Nothing, and it was something too. tmj

this post was years ago...but i just read it and i have the exact same problem with BOTH my ears. i went to an ENT a couple of years ago and he didn't mention anything about TMJ but did say there was something wrong with my eustacian tubes but offered NO solution and you are right, it makes me CRAZY! can you tell me what you do to for your problem? at this point i am open to just about anything!

I have had the same thing, left ear only, for the past two months. Went to an ENT and he could actually hear it too. It is NOT sinus or Eustachian tubes - it is a spasm of the tiny muscles just beyond the ear drum. I know I grind my teeth in my sleep, esp. on the left side. I have broken both a molar and the crown placed on it on the left side. Now I'm on crown #2 and I always wear a mouth guard to sleep (which has bite marks on the left side). The ENT gave me a low dose of Valium to relax the spasms - so far it hasn't helped, and I don't want to stay on Valium forever. The popping is most noticeable when I open my mouth wide, but otherwise I can live with it. If you can't live with it, there is a simple day surgery available wherein they cut the nerve to these muscles. There is also a link for specialists in your area, which is where I found my ENT.

Have had the blocked ears problem ( from TMJ) for so long and was just wondering if there are any recent surgery success stories ? I would try anything to unblock my ears... but cutting the nerve sounds a little scary and am wondering the risks - as bad as it is coping with blocked up ears, is it possible one could end up crippled from this type of surgery ? Tnx to anyone with any info' or advice

Same problem here and am only just reading these ports as well - any help or suggestions at all with the blocked ears would be so appreciated !!!

I found that with my tmj, it actually wasn't the popping and grinding that was painful. Also, my OMS (oral and maxillofacial surgeon) told me that unless you know what you're looking for, tmj is very easy to miss on an mri. So, unless the person reading your mri scan knew how to identify tmj, then chances are it may have been missed.

well and not only that mris are only about 20 percent accureate.

your surgeon could tell you more. it stated that my discs were out of place with a lot of other things wrong--at surgery none of that was corect

ah dont feel guilty---heck even sonograms arent that accurate. one of my friends was supposed to be a boy---well she is not exactly a guy lol----yeah the 3rd surgeon that i went to observed me and the mri and said that it wasnt consistant with each other.

radiation--well if i have any brains left ill be lucky. i dont know how many x rays and mris and etc that i had in the last year. if im ok you should be fine--just let me know if you start growing another eye or anything strange. cause then ill have to look lol j/k

hello
im new here . i need your help
i just started to have some weird feelings..
my jaw doesn't exactly crack.. when opening a little more i hear a little sound and it kind of hurts my ear also a little.. i'm having my wisdoms tooth removed soon.. then will have to reposition my tooth that were moved because of the wisdoms..
my dentist is fully booked and he won't check that problem until i get a meeting which can be for like next month..
are there any things i should take or do to avoid this getting serious?
and how can this be fixed?

please let me know

thank you

Painless popping in ear when moving jaw or eating, talking, etc. Mine occurs usually during opening strokes and sounds like it's occurring right at the tympanic membrane. Fairly loud, consistent. Aside from TMJ you might seriously consider a loaded/blocked ear canal and/or perforated tympanic membrane. There are "mechanical" issues in the middle ear which may also deserve consideration. An enterologist (ear. nose, throat) dr. is skilled at identifying this stuff. Ultrasound may also reveal things not seen by MRI or xray. But hey, I aint no doctor.

whenever i swallow i can hear cracking and popping on my right side sometimes it will just pop and crack itself when i'm not doing anything but moving around it doesn't hurt though when it cracks but sometimes when my mouth stays closed for awhile it kinda hurts to open my mouth but i can eat fine without any problems

The dentist told me that the problem is related to the
grinding of the teeth during sleeping.
He wants me to use a teeth protector but is unbearable
I wonder if a TMJ doctor reading this has another opinion.
The OD said that in the extreme I may need an operation